Thursday, 15 September 2016

FILM 1566: ZOOTOPIA

TRIVIA: Originally, the film
revolved around Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman). However,
test audiences reported that they had a hard time connecting with him
emotionally and instead found themselves drawn to Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), so the
story was changed.

Animators decided upon Judy's
purple eye color because they thought the rest of her gray fur markings were
too dull, particularly for a main character. Purple was chosen to represent her
energetic and optimistic personality.

Nick Wilde's design is heavily
based on the title character of Disney's Robin Hood (1973) (who is
also a fox).

HIDDEN MICKEY: If you look closely
at Clawhauser's spots, you will see a hidden Mickey Mouse on his cheeks.

The horn heard when Judy Hopps
leaves her hometown and again when she arrives in Zootopia is the horn from the
Monorail at Disney Parks. The SkyTram in the rainforest zone is a reference to
the Skyway that ferried guests from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland in Disneyland
and the Magic Kingdom. The Sky Buckets were removed from Disneyland in 1994 and
from the Magic Kingdom in 1999.

Chief Bogo, when chastising Judy
for having unrealistic dreams of becoming a "real cop" tells her that
they aren't living "in a cartoon world where you sing a little song and
all your dreams come true" before telling her to "let it go."
This is an obviously self-referential nod to the large body of prior Disney
animated classics, which frequently feature heroes seeking to fulfill lofty
dreams, singing, and wishing, particularly the mega-hit Frozen (2013) whose
feature song was the anthem "Let it Go" by Idina Menzel.

Judy's two obnoxious next-door
neighbors, who can constantly be heard to tell each other to shut up, are a
reference to the infamous "shut up little man" recordings. The tapes
were a pre-internet viral sensation where a pair of next-door neighbor male
roommates were captured on audio arguing incessantly, often ending with the
pair screaming at each other to shut up.

In Doug the Ram's night howler lab
he is talking on the phone when he hears a knock at the door and says,
"Walter and Jessie are here so I'm leaving now..." Walter and Jessie
are the names of the two main characters in the American television drug drama
Breaking Bad. Doug also wears a yellow boiler suit, as do Walter and Jessie in
the later seasons of the drug drama.